Public Finance and Environment

America and Europe Move Away from Coal but Japan Continues to Support the World's Biggest Coal-Fired Power Plants

Japanese Environmental NGOs say NO to Japan Bank for International Cooperation's coal financing!

February 6, 2014

Three Japanese environmental NGOs (JACSES, Kiko Network and Friends of the Earth Japan) are taking a stand against JBIC's (Japan Bank for International Cooperation) continued financing of coal-fired power plants in developing countries in their "No Coal! Go Green! No to JBIC's coal financing!" project.

The problems concerning JBIC's coal financing are as listed below:

1. Even when state-of-the-art technology is used for coal-fired power plants, they still produce the highest amount of CO2 emissions compared with any other form of energy. When compared with natural gas, coal-fired power generation produces twice as many emissions. This is a serious, international problem as emissions from coal-fired power plants are a major driver of climate change.

2. The World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), and several governments (the US, the UK, Nordic countries, etc.) have either stopped investing in coal power generation or proposed stricter standards for coal-fired power plants. However, through the government-funded Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), the Japanese government is promoting policies that support coal projects.

3. In the past 10 years, JBIC has financially supported 21 coal-fired power generation projects in developing countries (JBIC's investments and loans totalled more than 680 million yen) with a total capacity of over 20GW. In a single year, total CO2 emissions can total 120 million tons, the equivalent of 1/10th of Japan's annual emissions and half of the country's emissions from coal-fired power generation. Compared to other countries, JBIC is the leading financer of coal-fired power projects in the world.

4. Currently, JBIC is considering financing the Batang coal-fired power project in Indonesia (one infrastructure export project promoted by Prime Minister Abe). Despite attacks by the local police and the military against protestors and the negative effects this project will have on the locals' livelihoodd and health, JBIC has yet to directly listen to locals' concerns.

We will continue to investigate and report on the above issues. Please visit our homepage for updates concerning this project.